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Fort Nez Percés

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fort Nez Percés
Fur Trade Outpost
Fort Nez Percés in 1818.
Constructed:1818
Company built:North West Company
Location:Wallula, Washington
Continent:North America
Later Ownership:1821, Hudson's Bay Company
Abandoned:1857

Fort Nez Percés (or Fort Nez Percé, with or without the acute accent), later known as (Old) Fort Walla Walla, was a fortified fur trading post on the Columbia River on the territory of modern-day Wallula, Washington. Despite being named after the Nez Perce people, the fort was in the traditional lands of the Walla Walla. Founded in 1818 by the North-West Company, after 1821 it was run by the Hudson's Bay Company until its closure in 1857.

YouTube Encyclopedic

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  • Landscape Of History: The Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Tra
  • Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce' War
  • Nez Perce War: Explained
  • Twelve Tribes Finale
  • Chief Joseph's Grave

Transcription

[music] >> NARRATOR: There is a landscape that begins in the deep canyons and fertile valleys of Oregon and rolls like a ribbon through Idaho until it reaches the high plains of north central Montana. Embedded in the fabric of this land and the people who live here is the memory of one of our nation's most enduring stories. It is an epic story of hope, despair, and ultimately loss of a homeland. Even though it happened long ago, this story remains as current as today's headlines. This is the Nez Perce National Historic Trail, and as you travel the landscape, this journey grows more significant with time. For thousands of generations the people who call themselves "Nimiipuu" used this trail across the mountains to visit friends and relatives on the plains; to trade and to hunt the buffalo. They learned to follow the trail in the days of foot travel, long before horses. According to legend, Grizzly bears found a brave, lost boy and showed him the path through the mountains and how to survive in this rugged country. Then in 1877, the path became a trail of sadness. In that year 750 Nez Perce men, women and children made a heroic yet futile flight seeking freedom and peace far from their homeland. But this trail is not just about yesterday's journeys. Today's and tomorrow's travelers may also find meaning here. The Nez Perce National Historic Trail is a landscape of history that carries understanding to those who travel it. The Nez Perce Tribe's native homeland extended across a plateau country of ancient volcanic rock, deep canyons and mighty rivers between the Cascade and Rocky Mountains. Separate Nez Perce bands once lived from Oregon's Wallowa Valley, up and down the Snake River Canyon, to the Clearwater Valley in Idaho. Their lands spread north and south along the Bitterroot Range, encompassing the rugged Lochsa and Selway drainages and the extensive Salmon River country. It was, and still is, a beautiful and abundant land, rich in wildlife, productive forests and lush meadows. Nez Perce ancestors thrived here for thousands of generations. The story of the Nez Perce conflict began with the arrival of white men in the early 1800s. The Nez Perce aided explorers Lewis and Clark, and they traded with early fur trappers. Christian missionaries lived among them. Early settlers knew and respected the Nez Perce as skillful horse breeders, hunters and warriors. For fifty years the Nez Perce and their new neighbors lived together, side by side. By 1855, increasing numbers of settlers looking for land and prosperity expanded into Nez Perce country. That year Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens established a Nez Perce Reservation of nearly 12,000 square miles, preserving much of the tribe's native homeland. Just five years later, prospectors encroaching on Nez Perce land discovered gold, and the U.S. government demanded new treaty talks. In 1863 new negotiations led to a tenfold reduction in land for the Nez Perce. Several bands whose traditional lands were not included in the reservation refused to sign the treaty. They became known as the "Non-treaty" Nez Perce. Now divided, the Nez Perce Tribe became increasingly vulnerable to pressure from homesteaders and the U.S. Government. For over a decade, the non-treaty bands refused to leave their lands. But tensions mounted with growing numbers of settlers, and in 1877 the Army ordered the non-treaty Nez Perce to move on to the reduced reservation near Lapwai, Idaho. Of the 750 Nez Perce, most were women, children, or elderly. They took with them their 2000 horses and all their belongings. In the months before their departure, relations had grown tense between Nez Perce and neighboring settlers. Some settlers badly mistreated and even killed some Nez Perce. On the journey to the reservation, several young angry warriors sought justice for these unprosecuted murders and killed a number of settlers they believed were responsible. This set the stage for further bloodshed. Army troops and civilian volunteers led by General Oliver Otis Howard first confronted the Nez Perce at White Bird Canyon. Fighting broke out, and the troops retreated with heavy casualties. This was the first of nearly 20 battles and skirmishes. Even though many Americans were sympathetic to the Nez Perce, the policy of Manifest Destiny, the taming of the "wild west" and expansion of American commerce and civilization was still of prime importance in 1877. The rights of the non-treaty Nez Perce were largely ignored. From the Whitebird Battlefield, the Nez Perce fled northwest to the Salmon River, then east toward the Clearwater River. General Howard's troops attacked again, with little success. After the Clearwater battle, the Nez Perce camped at Weippe Prairie where leaders met to decide what to do next. The leaders included, among many others, Joseph, Whitebird, Toohoolhoolzote, Hahtalekin, Husishusis Kute, and Looking Glass. >> CHIEF JOSEPH: "What are we fighting for? Is it for our lives? No. It is for this land where the bones of our fathers lie buried. I do not want to take my women among strangers. I do not want to die in a strange land." Chief Joseph. >>NARRATOR: Chief Looking Glass had only recently joined the fleeing bands when his Clearwater River camp was destroyed by troops. Because of his knowledge of buffalo country, the chiefs agreed to follow Looking Glass from Idaho to Montana in search of allies. As they pursued the fleeing bands onto the Weippe Prairie, General Howard's troops intercepted Chief Redheart's band returning home from a buffalo hunt. Victims of bad timing, Redheart's band were captured and taken as prisoners of war to Fort Vancouver, Washington. They remained there until April of 1878. The fleeing Nez Perce followed the winding Lolo Trail up the Lochsa River and over the Bitterroot Mountains. The Lolo Trail was a well-known hunters' trail, but considered tortuous with dense forests, steep canyons and a 7000-foot summit. Across this rugged terrain the Nez Perce deftly outdistanced the pursuing army. Hoping to stop the Nez Perce at the east end of the Lolo trail, Army and volunteer forces hastily built a blockade near Lolo Creek in Montana. The Nez Perce easily outflanked the blockade, and the location became known as Fort Fizzle for the failed attempt. Traveling about twelve miles per day, the Nez Perce moved south through Montana's Bitterroot Valley to avoid Missoula and other settlements. They traded for supplies with wary settlers along the way. The Nez Perce crossed the Continental Divide at what is now called Gibbon's Pass and dropped into the Big Hole Valley. Believing the army was far away, they stopped to rest and gather tipi poles along the North Fork of the Big Hole River. Here, at the Big Hole National Battlefield, the National Park Service tells how the 7th Infantry, under the command of Colonel John Gibbon, surprised the resting tribe on the morning of August 9th. Gibbon described the attack. >> GIBBON: "Suddenly a single shot rang out in the clear morning air, followed quickly by several others, and the whole line pushed forward through the brush. A heavy fire was at once opened along the whole line of tepees, the startled Indians rushing from them in every direction, and for a few moments no shots were returned. Few of us will forget the wail of mingled grief, rage and horror which rose from the camp when the Indians returned to it and recognized their slaughtered warriors, women and children." >> RED WOLF: "The women, all scared when the soldiers charged the camp, ran into the water, the brush. Any place where they could hide themselves and children. Many were killed as they ran. They had no guns." Red Wolf, Nez Perce Warrior. >> NARRATOR: Nearly 90 Nez Perce, including many women and children, were killed at the battle of Big Hole. Twenty-nine soldiers and citizen volunteers also lost their lives. Nez Perce leaders suddenly realized the deadly reality of the conflict. Now led by Chief Lean Elk who knew these trails well, the Nez Perce rapidly, and often violently, fled pursuing troops. Wounded men, women and children were dying along the trail. Some, too weary to continue, chose to stay behind. The Nez Perce crossed back into Idaho at Bannock Pass. At Camas Meadows they delayed the pursuing army by raiding and scattering cavalry mules. The Nez Perce crossed Targhee Pass and escaped into Yellowstone National Park pursued closely by the army. Inside the five-year old National Park they captured several tourists. A few vengeful young warriors killed three. Leaders Lean Elk and Yellow Wolf intervened and the remaining tourists were given horses and food and released. General Howard was sure he had the fleeing Nez Perce trapped in the rugged Yellowstone country. He posted troops at every exit. The Nez Perce moved east into the Absaroka Mountains where a blockade of new troops from the 7th Cavalry waited to intercept them. But the Nez Perce baffled the army and escaped by choosing an arduous route through steep terrain. The Nez Perce traveled down the rugged Clark's Fork River canyon and on to the plains where they sought assistance from the Crow Tribe. Under pressure from military and Indian agents, the Crow refused to help their former friends and sided with the army instead. Now intent on reaching the Canadian border, the Nez Perce turned north and followed the Clark's Fork River back into Montana. The cavalry again caught the Nez Perce at Canyon Creek, but failed once more to halt their march. After a pitched battle the Nez Perce bands slipped away into the Buffalo Country. They spread out over the prairies to find game and water and continued their march north. Cow Island crossing was a supply depot and the most upstream point of steamboat navigation on the Missouri River in the fall. Pausing only briefly, Nez Perce warriers managed to take food and supplies from outnumbered and outgunned depot attendants. The fall weather turned bitterly cold. The Nez Perce had been constantly on the march for over four months covering more than 1100 miles. They were exhausted and starving. Assuming the army was far behind, Chief Lookinglass resumed leadership and slowed the pace to protect the weary people. They selected a camp on Snake Creek at the base of the Bear Paw Mountains, more for comfort than for defense. These miscalculations proved fateful. On September 30, Colonel Nelson Miles led 400 soldiers in a surprise attack on the Nez Perce camp. A brutal siege lasted six days, with heavy casualties on both sides. During the battle, Chief Whitebird and nearly 200 Nez Perce managed to escape to the safety of the Canadian border. Most other Nez Perce leaders were killed. On October 5th, to protect his wounded, freezing and starving people, Chief Joseph agreed to end the fighting. The Nez Perce National Historic Trail ends at the Bear Paw Battle Site, but the tragic story does not. The 431 Nez Perce survivors who had been told they would return to Idaho were taken instead down the Missouri River by flatboat to an unexpected exile, first at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, then Indian Territory, Oklahoma. There they were joined by other Nez Perce captured trying to return home from Canada to Idaho. Conditions in exile were extremely poor. Of nearly 500 Nez Perce sent to Oklahoma, only 301 survived. Many military officers and citizens throughout the country pleaded to have the Nez Perce returned to their reservation. In spite of these efforts, the Nez Perce remained in exile for eight years. Finally in 1885 the survivors were sent back to the Northwest. Chief Joseph and half the surviving Nez Perce were re-settled on the Colville Reservation in Washington State; the rest were returned to the reservation in Idaho. Chief Joseph was never permitted to live again at his ancestral home in the Wallowa Valley. [music] More than a century has passed. Nez Perce decendents of both treatyand non-treaty bands still live on or near traditional homelands and perpetuate the culture of their proud and once unified tribe. Much of the country once home to the Nez Perce has been parceled out in farms, ranches, and communities: but a significant portion is managed as public lands, by federal agencies like the Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The 1170 mile Nez Perce, or Nimiipuu, National Historic Trail was established by Congress in 1986 to insure that the trail and significant sites will be preserved and appreciated by generations to come. The US Forest Service is responsible for managing the Nez Perce National Historic Trail. With this responsibility comes a commitment to preserve this important heritage. Many trail segments that wind through public land are amazingly undisturbed and have changed little. [music] The Nez Perce conflict touched many lives in 1877. It affected most directly those who fought to enforce the government's will and those who fought for their homeland. It still affects those who travel the trail today, more than a century later. To descendents of both treaty and non-treaty bands of Nez Perce this trail and its history are sacred. The trail speaks in many voices. The important battlefields have been preserved and interpreted. The trail continues to define all of us as people. The trail largely belongs to the future. The Nez Perce flight for freedom, played out over vast distances and varied terrain, can only be imagined today as one travels the trail. But the desire for homeland, that abiding sense of peace and harmony one feels when surrounded by familiar landscapes, is as real today as it was for the Nez Perce over one hundred years ago. [music] For more information, or copies, visit: http://fs.usda.gov/npnht

North West Company

David Thompson navigated the entire length of the Columbia River in 1811. Map of the Columbia and its tributaries showing modern political boundaries
Fort Nez Perces was an important stop on the York Factory Express trade route, 1820s to 1840s. Modern political boundaries shown.

During David Thompson's 1811 voyage down the Columbia River, he camped at the confluence with the Snake River on July 9, 1811. He erected a pole and a notice claiming the country for Great Britain and stating the intention of the North West Company to build a trading post at the site. North West Company managers during an annual meeting in Fort William, gave instructions for a fort to be created near the mouth of the Walla Walla River, a few miles south of the confluence of the Snake and the Columbia.

Begun in July 1818 under the direction of traders Donald MacKenzie[1] and Alexander Ross, the fort was constructed by 95 NWC employees.[2] The company officials secured daily provisions for the laborers by trading with visiting Nez Perce.[2] The surrounding area lacked a forest, so workers had to cut timber 100 miles away and send it down river to the planned fort site.[2] Relations with the Nez Perces quickly deteriorated as construction continued, as Ross recalled.

"Soon after our landing the tribes began to muster rapidly; the multitudes which surrounded us became immense, and their movements alarming. They insisted on our paying for the timber we were collecting. They prohibited our hunting and fishing. They affixed an exorbitant price of their own to every article of trade, and they insulted any of the hands whom they met alone. Thus they resolved to keep us in their power, and withhold supplies until their conditions were granted."[2]

The NWC employees erected an enclosure to protect the work site. The remaining laborers were 38 Iroquois, 32 Kanaka (Hawaiians), and 25 French Canadians.[2] The company men started negotiations with Nez Perce elders to avert an outbreak of violence. The tribal leaders at first insisted that all members of their tribe be given gifts, though a less expansive settlement was adopted, ending "many anxious days and sleepless nights".[2] Ross soon became the first chief factor of the fort or post.[3]

Location

Constructed on the east bank of the Columbia River, Fort Nez Percés was half a mile north of the mouth of the Walla Walla River and a few miles below the mouth of the Snake River. The location was chosen for its strategic geographic value. The nearby Walla Walla Valley had long been an important rendezvous point for parties working several peripheral fur districts. The 1815 decision by the NWC to refocus the entire New Caledonia region southward to the Columbia River meant greatly increased traffic on the river. Donald MacKenzie intended to open up the Snake River country, adding another operation converging on the area where Fort Nez Percés was built.

Essentially all company exports and supplies passed through the Columbia Gorge. The location of Fort Nez Percés at the eastern end of this trunk line to the ocean made it the most important post in the interior. In addition, increasing tensions from occupying the homelands of the local Native Americans necessitated a permanent fortified post. Finally, the area was significant to the Indians. Not only was it a major meeting and trading ground, but it was where Lewis and Clark had first met the indigenous peoples of the Columbia River and had made an informal treaty of friendship.[4]

Fort description

The fort was built with a double palisade, unique among North West Company forts. The inner wall was 12 feet (3.7 m) high, and a five-foot wide "strong gallery" was located between the two walls.[5] The storehouse and dwellings were within. Trade was conducted via a small hole in the inner wall. The outer palisade was made of planks 20 feet (6.1 m) high and 6 inches (150 mm) thick, and topped with a range of balustrades four feet high.[5] Towers were located at each of the fort's four corners; these contained large water tanks for fighting enemy fire.[5] Soon after the post was built, Alexander Ross said it was "the strongest and most complete fort west of the Rocky Mountains, and might be called the Gibraltar of the Columbia."[4]

While traveling west with fellow members of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, William H. Gray described the original fort's appearance thus:

"Old Fort Wallawalla, in 1836, when the mission party arrived, was a tolerably substantial stockade, built of drift-wood taken from the Columbia River, of an oblong form, with two log bastions raised, one on the southwest corner, commanding the river-front and southern space beyond the stockade; the other bastion was on the northeast corner, commanding the north end, and east side of the fort. In each of these bastions were kept two small cannon, with a good supply of small-arms. These bastions were always well guarded when any danger was suspected from the Indians. The sage brush, willow and grease-wood had been cut and cleared away for a considerable distance around, to prevent any Indian getting near the fort without being discovered. Inside the stockade were the houses, store, and quarters for the men, with a space sufficiently large to corral about one hundred horses."[6]

Snake River expeditions

In September 1818, Donald MacKenzie left his new base at Fort Nez Percés to lead a large fur trapping party into the Snake River country.[2] The operation was a major departure from the usual practice of the North West Company. MacKenzie spent the winter of 1818–1819 shifting camps and trapping in a large region. His return to Fort Nez Percés in July 1819 with an unusually large and valuable catch won him praise and vindicated the establishment of Fort Nez Percés, about which some company partners had been skeptical. The Snake country expeditions from Fort Nez Percés became an annual affair and regularly produced a large portion of company's entire fur export west of the Rocky Mountains.[4]

Hudson's Bay Company

Fur trading at Fort Nez Percés in 1841.
Fort Nez Percés in 1853.
Looking down on location of Fort Nez Percés, as seen in 2006.

In 1821, the escalating conflicts between the competing North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company resulted in a forced merger of the two. The Hudson's Bay Company took over all the North West Company's operations, and administered them as the Columbia District. Fort Nez Percés remained an important HBC fur trade post and base for beaver hunting expeditions, as well as an important stop on the twice annual York Factory Express trade route to London via Hudson Bay. The Fort, along with other HBC forts on the western end of the Oregon Trail route, including Fort Vancouver near its terminus in the Willamette Valley; all gave substantial and often desperately needed aid to the early American Oregon Trail pioneers.

Rebuilt fort

Shortly after a visit by the American Charles Wilkes' expedition (which lost one of two ships on Columbia River bar); the fort was destroyed by fire on October 5, 1841. The HBC's Sinclair settlement expedition from the Red River Colony passed through one day after the fire. They helped save what they could, but they decided not to stay. Rather they traveled through the night because the large number of Indians in the area made it unsafe to camp.

Fort Nez Percés was subsequently rebuilt with adobe bricks.[7] The buildings inside the fort were constructed of a wooden frame with adobe brick walls.[8] Manufacture of the bricks used local "wild rye",[9] and some bricks likely originated from Marcus Whitman's mission.[8]

United States

The fort found itself on U.S. soil in 1846 as a result of the Oregon Treaty, which ended the Oregon boundary dispute with Britain. The British lost the lands north of the Columbia River they had long controlled. The new border was established much further north at the 49th parallel. The treaty did allow Hudson's Bay Company navigation rights on the Columbia River to supply their fur posts, and clear titles to their trading post properties allowing them to be sold later if they wanted. HBC continued to operate the Fort Nez Percés for another decade. It was again burnt down at the beginning of the Yakima War in 1855. James Sinclair was among the casualties of the battle. The fort was rebuilt a second time, but was eventually abandoned in 1857 when the Hudson's Bay Company gave up its declining commercial business in the Oregon Territory. Its headquarters for the Columbia Department was relocated from Fort Vancouver to Fort Victoria, in present-day British Columbia.

Today the site of the fort is now Wallula, Washington.

U.S. Fort Walla Walla

The U.S. military erected a new Fort Walla Walla in 1858 at nearby Walla Walla, Washington.[10]

Management

Manager Rank Tenure
Donald McKenzie Proprietor 1818[11]
Alexander Ross Proprietor 1818-1823[11]
John Warren Dease Chief Trader 1823-1825[11]
Samuel Black Chief Trader 1825-1830[11]
George Barnston 1830-1831[11]
Simon McGillivray Jr. Chief Trader 1831-1832[11]
Pierre Pambrun clerk 1832-1840[11]
Pierre Pambrun Chief Trader 1840-1841[11]
Archibald McKinlay clerk 1841-1846[11]
William McBean clerk 1846-1852[11]
Richard Grant Chief Trader 1851-1852[11]
Andrew Pambrun clerk 1852-1855[11]
James Sinclair 1855[11]

References

  1. ^ Donald MacKenzie; URL last accessed April 10, 2006.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Ross, Alexander. The Fur Hunters of the Far West. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1855, pp. 171-179
  3. ^ University of Montana: Establishment of Fort Nez Percés Archived 2005-12-21 at the Wayback Machine; URL last accessed April 10, 2006.
  4. ^ a b c Meinig, D.W. (1995) [1968]. The Great Columbia Plain (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Classic ed.). University of Washington Press. pp. 61–63. ISBN 0-295-97485-0.
  5. ^ a b c Hines, Clarence. "The Erection of Fort Nez Perce." Oregon Historical Quarterly 40, No. 4 (1939), pp. 327-335
  6. ^ Gray, William H. A History of Oregon, 1792-1849, Drawn from personal observation and authentic information. Portland, OR: Harris & Holman. 1870, pp. 143-144
  7. ^ Oregon Historical Society: Fort Nez Percé; URL last accessed April 10, 2006.
  8. ^ a b Garth, Thomas R. Archeological Excavations at Fort Walla Walla. The Pacific Northwest Quarterly 43, No. 1 (1952), pp. 27-50
  9. ^ Sperlin, O. B. Washington Forts of the Fur Trade Regime. The Washington Historical Quarterly 8, No. 2 (1917), pp. 103-113
  10. ^ Topinka, Lyn: Wallula, Washington (archived link), English River Website, 2005. URL last accessed 2010-06-07.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Watson, Bruce M. Lives Lived West of the Divide: A Biographical Dictionary of Fur Traders Working West of the Rockies, 1793-1858. Okanagan: The Centre for Social, Spatial and Economic Justice of the University of British Columbia, 2010. p. 1058

Further reading

  • Stern, Th.: Chiefs and Chief Traders: Indian Relations at Fort Nez Percés, Oregon State University Press 1993. ISBN 0-87071-368-X.

46°05′03″N 118°54′33″W / 46.08417°N 118.90917°W / 46.08417; -118.90917

This page was last edited on 7 December 2023, at 17:45
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